Battle of El Guettar

The Battle of El Guettar (23 March-3 April 1943) occurred when the German 10th Panzer Division under Hans-Jurgen von Arnim launched an assault on American positions at El Guettar in Tunisia during the North African campaign of World War II. The battle tested the US general George S. Patton's skills, and he used camouflaged artillery vehicles to blast German tanks and soldiers as they advanced on the American defensive positions. The German panzers, advancing in the open, were decimated by artillery fire, and the German infantry were vulnerable to Allied bullets and shelling. The German assault was repelled with heavy losses, but the American victory was incomplete; their counterattack achieved little progress. Patton was also disappointed when he discovered that the Afrika Korps commander Erwin Rommel was sick in Berlin and not in command in North Africa, but he took pride in knowing that he had defeated Rommel's plan.